Ryan McCarthy

FAIRFIELD — The Wragg Fire north of Vacaville was 85 percent contained Thursday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which earlier in the evening lifted the last remaining mandatory evacuations. It has burned more than 11 square miles in Solano County, according to The Associated Press, with 7,900 acres scorched. Containment […]

FAIRFIELD — The state Department of Mental Health provided a new proposed placement for Fraisure Smith and described the address as “for the court’s eyes only” during a brief hearing Thursday attended by two Contra Costa County representatives. A placement review involving the 51-year-old sexually violent predator Smith is scheduled for Sept. 25 in Solano […]

FAIRFIELD — Employees at five businesses provided alcohol to minors when members of the Fairfield Police Department’s Special Operations Team and Crime Prevention Unit conducted alcohol compliance checks Wednesday, police said. Two Fairfield Police Explorers were used as decoys for this event, police said. One of the Explorers is 19 years old, the other is […]

DIXON — The Dixon Gas Club did not prove that Safeway cut fuel prices to destroy competitors, a state court ruled in upholding a decision dismissing the Dixon’s company claims about the supermarket chain’s below-cost gas sales. “The number of fuel stations in Dixon had actually grown,” the San Francisco-based 1st District Court of Appeal said […]

FAIRFIELD — Police released the name Wednesday of a man who was shot last week along Phoenix Drive and was taken off life support Monday at an area hospital and pronounced dead. The victim has been identified as Phillip Liberto, 23, of Fairfield. Leonel G. Flores, 21, and Jaime P. Hernandez, 22, both Fairfield residents, face allegations […]

FAIRFIELD — A court conference is set Wednesday in the criminal case against a Fairfield woman police say agreed over the phone to sell $40 worth of marijuana to an undercover officer and meet at the Solano Town Center mall. A detective located Brittany S. Colbert’s car in the Applebee’s parking lot on Feb. 11 […]

FAIRFIELD — An idea that began during a car trip to a San Jose conference brought scores of people to the Police Activities League center Tuesday to celebrate Rotary Success Scholars, an effort called the greatest cause local members of the service club have ever supported. Students signed contracts and received computers to use at […]

FAIRFIELD — The 13 people who applied and weren’t appointed share the experience of Scott Tonnesen, chairman of the Fairfield Planning Commission. Tonnesen, who is starting his eighth year on the commission, was named to the commission after applying for the post five times. Five tries was going to be his limit, Tonneson recalled. The […]

FAIRFIELD — Alonzo T. Washington took a 68-year-old woman’s briefcase with about $1,500 in cash after striking her in the back of the head and dragging her across the parking lot of the JC Penney store at the Solano Town Center mall until she told Washington her husband is a police officer, the woman testified […]

FAIRFIELD — One juror is moving to Indiana and a second has a scheduled vacation that includes a visit to the White House, the judge in the Henry A. Smith Jr. murder trial was told Monday about the plans that may lead to a mistrial in the penalty phase for the convicted killer of Vallejo Police […]

FAIRFIELD — A Suisun City man who Fairfield police said was shot after he reached into his pants while running from a North Texas Street apartment was sentenced Monday to four years in prison. An illegal gun was recovered after Cory Davis, 34, was arrested April 3, 2014, Fairfield police said. He was spotted leaving […]

FAIRFIELD — A decision on a new $44,000 contract with Joe A. Gonsalves & Son to advocate for the city in Sacramento was delayed this week after Councilman Rick Vaccaro sought more information about the pact. “I want to do a little more research on this to see what Fairfield expects to get out of this,” Vaccaro said […]

FAIRFIELD — A refinance of a $21 million pension obligation bond that may save up to about $700,000 has won City Council approval. The proposed refinancing is expected to occur in September. City Council approval Tuesday includes appointing the firm of Jones Hall as bond counsel, Stifel Nicolaus and Company as underwriter and Public Financial Management […]

SUISUN CITY — A conspiracy, discovered after suspicious billing at a Suisun City office, resulted in federal court convictions for a senior project manager and subcontractor involved with a web of bogus corporations to funnel $1.3 million from their employer, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday. Kevin Laney, a former senior project manager for […]

FAIRFIELD — A $1.4 million project for pavement work on Beck Avenue between Highway 12 and West Texas Street – a project expected to include some night work – has won City Council approval. Mayor Harry Price asked Tuesday how crossing guards at the Sheldon Academy of Innovative Learning on Woolner Avenue will ensure the safety […]

VALLEJO — A male and female inside a home died from gunshot wounds Thursday in what appears to be a murder-suicide, Vallejo police said. Officers responding at about 5:40 p.m. to the 1000 block of Songwood Road also found a male outside the home who had been shot. He was transported to a local hospital with […]

FAIRFIELD — Taxpayer initiatives to repeal a sewer rate increase in Dixon are invalid because the city’s efforts are administrative acts rather than legislative, Solano County Superior Judge Paul Beeman said in an order that also notes, “The option exists for voters to boot out the representatives whose votes enacted the rate increase.” Initiatives can […]

FAIRFIELD — A suit, seeking $381,300 for a woman who had to undergo surgery for a severed hamstring after a fuel nozzle at the 76 Gas Station on Red Top Road allegedly malfunctioned and she fell where gasoline spilled, has been settled. Medical costs for Debi Ronzani were $11,300 while past and future wage losses […]

FAIRFIELD — Two suspected gang members were arrested after detectives investigating the Wednesday afternoon shooting at a Fairfield apartment parking lot along Phoenix Drive served a search warrant at a Vacaville home, Fairfield police said. Police said Leonel Garcia Flores was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide and Jaime Ponce Hernandez was arrested on suspicion […]

VACAVILLE — The city sees the value of water audits and will consider undertaking them, Vacaville says in its response to a Solano County grand jury report about mitigating water loss in the seven cities in the county, which report yearly losses of 9 to 25 percent of their water supplies. Vacaville’s water loss in […]

VACAVILLE — The city’s home chicken-keeping saga seems to have resolved – with the birds allowed on lots of 6,000 square feet or larger, a resolution Mayor Len Augustine says “takes us back to being more of a rural community.” “I don’t anticipate a lot of problems,” Augustine said. Councilwoman Dilenna Harris added, “I want […]

FAIRFIELD — Free parking at the Fairfield Transportation Center may end with proposed fees that include about 500 spaces of reserved parking at $50 a month and 100 spaces at $5 a day in a program the Fairfield City Council takes up Tuesday. The transportation center on Cadenasso Drive near Interstate 80 lacks parking to […]

FAIRFIELD — The city will pay $18,000 to consultant TBWB Strategies of San Francisco to inform residents about use of Measure P funds and advise officials about strategies for a new sales tax measure, if City Council members go along with a staff recommendation. “TBWB helps you package and pass a ballot measure to meet […]

FAIRFIELD — Refinancing the city’s $21 million in pension obligation bonds will save about $700,000, a city staff report says. The proposed refinancing is expected to occur in September. Fairfield issued $42 million in fiscal year 2004-05 to refinance the city’s unfunded liability with the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the report notes. City Council members […]

FAIRFIELD — A $1.4 million project for pavement work on Beck Avenue between Highway 12 and West Texas Street includes reconstructing part of Beck Avenue, upgrading accessible ramps and replacing traffic detectors and pavement markers. Ghilotti Bros. of San Rafael was the low bidder on the project, a city staff report said. Fairfield City Council […]

FAIRFIELD — A $44,000 contract with Joe A. Gonsalves & Son to advocate for the city in the state Legislature goes before City Council members Tuesday. Fairfield retained the firm’s services from 1999 until 2007 and resumed a contract with the company in 2014, a city staff report notes. “By continuing the services,” the report adds, “Fairfield […]

FAIRFIELD — Revoking probation for a man convicted in Solano County of carrying a loaded firearm – and later of burglary, followed by a third arrest involving firearms – was upheld Friday by a state appellate court after a challenge to the four-year, eight-month prison sentence he received. Levonte Tate Sanders pleaded no contest in […]

FAIRFIELD — A Friday hearing about the proposed placement of Fraisure Smith, identified as a sexually violent predator, was continued to July 30 in Solano County Superior Court. The owner of the Olive Avenue property in rural Solano County near Suisun City where Smith, 51, was proposed for placement withdrew the site this month from […]

FAIRFIELD — A juror said to have stated he wouldn’t convict the defendant “no matter what” and that a bailiff is “a thug with a gun” should be dismissed from the murder trial of a man charged with killing Vallejo Police Officer Jim Capoot, the prosecution says.

Two of the several jurors asked Thursday in Solano County Superior Court about the statements said their fellow juror was only joking about the thug reference and made it in front of the bailiff.